Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Momo
Steamed dumplings of spiced minced filling served with a tangy tomato-sesame achar, Nepal's everyday bite.
Nepali · medium · serves 4
prep 45 min · cook 20 min
~643 cal · 42g protein · 85g carbs · 13g fat · 6g fiber · 4g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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AI-generated illustration
Momo are Nepal's obsession, steamed or fried dumplings that arrived from Tibet and became the country's favourite snack and lunch, sold everywhere from street carts to smart restaurants in Kathmandu. Few foods are more universally loved across the country.
A simple flour wrapper is pleated around a juicy filling of minced buffalo, chicken, or vegetables, seasoned with onion, ginger, garlic, and coriander, then steamed until tender. The essential partner is the achar, a punchy dipping sauce of blended tomato, sesame, and chili that cuts the richness. Each pleated parcel is a small, savoury pleasure.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
3 cups flour
1 lb minced chicken or buffalo
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp garlic and ginger, minced
1 handful fresh cilantro
3 tomatoes (for the achar)
3 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
2 dried red chilies
1/4 tsp timur (Nepali Sichuan pepper), ground
Hard to find? ground Sichuan peppercorns - a close cousin with the same numbing tingle; timur is the more citrusy of the two
1/2 lime, juiced
Instructions
1
Make a soft dough with the flour and water and rest. Mix the filling with the onion, garlic, ginger, and cilantro.
2
Roll thin wrappers, add filling, and pleat each closed into a pouch or crescent.
✎ Chef’s note
Roll the wrappers thin in the middle and slightly thicker at the edge, so the pleats seal well and the dumpling does not burst.
3
Steam the momo until the wrappers turn glossy and the filling is cooked, about 12 minutes.
4
Char the tomatoes whole over a flame until the skins blacken and blister, peel off the loose skin, then grind them with the toasted sesame, chili, timur, and lime juice into a coarse achar and serve alongside for dipping.
✎ Chef’s note
Charring the tomatoes is what makes it momo achar rather than a tomato sauce; the blackened skin is where the smoke comes from, and a few flecks left in are a good thing.
Nepali street-food tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Kathmandu Valley. The Kathmandu Valley cooks Newari specialties alongside dal bhat and momo dumplings. Fermented greens, buffalo dishes, and Himalayan-Tibetan influence define Nepal's cultural heartland.
🗺️
Nepal. Nepali food revolves around dal bhat, lentils and rice eaten twice daily, alongside momo dumplings and Himalayan Tibetan influences. Simple, wholesome, and mountain-shaped, it leans on lentils, pickles (achar), and fermented greens.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Nepal
Yomari (Newari Sweet Rice Dumpling)Fig-shaped steamed rice-flour dumpling filled with chaku (jaggery molasses), toasted sesame, and coconut, made for Yomari Punhi.
Dal Bhat TarkariThe Himalayan daily plate: tempered black lentils, rice, and a turmeric-spiced vegetable curry.
Sel RotiA ring-shaped, lightly sweet fermented rice bread, crisp outside and soft within.
Browse all Nepal recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Steamer.
Storing it: Uncooked parcels freeze well and cook from frozen. Cooked ones keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and steam or pan-warm to serve.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Momo?
Steamed dumplings of spiced minced filling served with a tangy tomato-sesame achar, Nepal's everyday bite.
Where does Momo come from?
Momo is a Nepali dish from Kathmandu Valley, Nepal.
Can Momo be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Momo recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Momo safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Momo take to make?
About 65 minutes total (45 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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